Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-01-08
Che CatHdSrr J1ttlliaeu1a
LANCASTER, JANUARY 9, 1887.
The Interstate Commerce Bill.

The Senate Is very likely TO pass the
Interstate commerce bill, without ma
terial change and the House will do like
wise. There is a very reasonable GER
tainty that the bill will become law at
this session. Railroad men are in good
deal of fever over it, most Of them be-
lieving that it will be injurious TO their in
terest. The opinion however is not unani-
nous. The Northern Pacific railroad
makes an energetic protest against it, be-
cause Of the disadvantage It will
be at in competition with its un-
chained neghbor, the Pacific railway,
OF Canada and there is substance in is
complaint. No doubt it will not be well
for the roads that Canadian roads compete
with, that they should be under restrictions
that their rivals are free from. But this
difHenlty is met in the bill IN the privilege
M auess commissioners TO relax its reg
u;2he WoriSef the necessity for such action
is eSApnt
The obiectors to the bill conlne them
selves to asking its amendment. There is
no demand from any important quarter,
seemingly, for its entire suppression.
Even in railroad cLrcles.it is conceded that
the commisslonership established is likely
TO be beneficial, and the publication of
rates is universally approved. The OBJ
jections TO the bill lie against two of its
provisions one which prohibits pooling
and another which prohibits a greater
charge for longer than shorter haul in
the same direction. The last pro-
vision seems obviously just and
the opposition to it shows how greatly
demoralized is the railroad sense as to its
duty to the public. The idea that car.
rying company may charge what 1t pleases
and do as it pleases, with sole eye to its
own advantage, is so deeply grounded as
TO seem ineradicable. So that the railroad
manager cannot, for the life Of him, see
that there is anything wrong in his charg-
ing a greater price for carrying goods from
Pittsburg to New York, than he charges
for carrying the same goods from Chicago
to New York. This is all that this
bill prohibits. II allows as great
a charge from Ptttsburg as from
Chicago but no greater, and this is de.
-r1ared to be ruinous oppression of the rail
road and fanciful cases are stated In great
numbers to show how badly the new law
will work. The general sense is that II rail.
road business is 50 managed as to be dam.
aged by the need Of charging no more for a
less service than for a greater, the manage
ment needs speedy reformation.
The other prohibition OF the bill, that OF
railroad pooling, is not 50 clearly equitable
and may be found in practice to be in
furious. While competition is the life
of business and Is needed to insure proper
treatment of customers, it is equally true
that the public interest is not served by the
excessive supply Of business facilities, upon
which interest must be earned, and
that therefore there may be such @
thing as too much competition.
One railroad will suffice for commu.
nifty, If that railroad can be held to fair
rates for Its service. This may possibly
be secured more effectually by govern.
ment control than by multiplying rail-
roads which when so multiplied need to
pool their business 10 secure living rates.
The country is in that condition now,
There are too many trunk lines and they dc
not have all the business they can do. They
combine together 10 maintain paying rates
on through and long hauls of traffic. Such
combination is 4 necessity to them and il
is this which the proposed bill prohibits,
Whether 1t can do so, without supplying
some other means OF securing living rates
for long hauls to the railroad company, is
the question. 1t is not for the country's in.
terest that its railroads should be bank.
rupted' And it is not for the interest of
the country along railroad lines that il
should be charged heavy rates to make
up for the light rates forced by competition
on other traffic.
But whatever defects the law may de
velop in practice can be remedied, anC
there should be no hesitation in institutin.
the experiment,